Today figures to be a long day for the House Armed Services Committee and its subcommittees as they hash through many budget issues.

“Oxen are going to get gored,” Larsen said, referring to programs in the defense budget.

As a Democrat in the Republican-controlled House, Larsen’s amendment faces a fight.

Like other members of Washington’s congressional delegation, he has fought hard for Boeing over the years, even if he doesn’t always agree with the Chicago-based company’s business decisions.

Boeing recently announced that it will move more than 1,000 commercial engineering jobs from metro Puget Sound to other states, but Larsen says that’s not relevant in “fighting to keep the tanker program whole.”